Obama’s False Claims

President Obama’s claims and rhetoric regarding the government’s partial shutdown is pure “Deception and Demagoguery” says Peter Morici, an economist and professor at the University of Maryland.

The president has accused the House GOP majority of refusing to pay bills that Congress has racked up, and defying the outcome of the 2012 election.

“Our $17 trillion national debt funded past spending. And raising the debt ceiling is all about the government spending more than it taxes going forward, thus creating even debt. The US Constitution (The First Law of the land), requires that revenue (tax) bills originate in the “House,” not the President’s desk. If President Obama wants to spend more than the country can afford, our constitution requires him to negotiate with the House — “That’s where the framers put the money,” says Professor Morici.

The House was given this power, because with election every two years it is closest to the pulse of the people, who…in 2012, elected a majority of representatives to the House promising to…cut spending and reduce deficits.

Obama’s victory in the 2012 presidential election turned on many issues, including immigration, foreign policies toward China and the Middle East. It is false to say Obama’s election affirmed voter support for Obamacare. Poll after poll — at the time Obamacare was coerced into existence, revealed a 67 percent majority of Americans do not like the law and want it repealed. Additionally, the ethnic breakdown of election results indicate Obama’s victory was much more the result of Gov Mitt Romney’s inability to appeal to Latino and Asian voters.

The US Treasury should have no trouble making interest payments on bonds it has issued. According to economist Brian Westbury, the US will take in more than $250 billion in tax receipts and owe just $25 billion in interest payments in October. And nothing restricts the US Treasury from prioritizing interest payments. Note: The country’s obligation to pay interest is set by the 1917 Second Liberty Bond Act as well as other laws that command the Treasury to pay interest on the debt.

The only way possible that the US Treasury defaults on its debt is…if President Obama instructs Treasury Secretary Jack Lew to default on the debt. Thus the cultivation of fear by President Obama and Treasury Secretary Jack Lew is unacceptable and not supported by the happenings in 17 previous partial and temporary shutdowns. Partial, because only about 22 percent of government was actually shut down, the part that runs on borrowed money. These facts are far from President Obama’s false claims.